Bar accessory having a siphon for dispensing a predetermined quantity of liquid



2,589,068 ING IQUID March 1952 J. o. EVANS, JR

BAR ACCESSORY HAVING A SIPHON FOR DISPENS A PREDETERMINED QUANTITY OF L Filed July 28, 1947 Patented Mar. 11, 1952 BAR ACCESSORY HAVING A SIPHON FOR DISPENSING A PREDETERMLNED QUAN- TITY OF LIQUID John 0. Evans, Jr., Washington, D. 0. Application July 28, 1947, Serial N 0. 764,053

8 Claims.

This device relates to a device for dispensing a measured quantity of liquid and more particularly to a bar accessory useful in mixing drinks.

An object of the invention is to provide a handheld dispensing and measuring cup that will dispense a predetermined quantity of liquid without requiring inversion of the cup.

Another object is to provide a device of the sort described that has no valve or other similar mechanism that is subject to corrosion, wear, maladjustment and breakage.

Another object is to provide a bar accessory utilizing a siphon means for measuring and dispensing a predetermined quantity of liquid from a cup. The siphon and cup may be so related that the siphon tube forms a convenient handle for the device and the lower end of the siphon tube may be provided with a spoon bowl or other agitating device for the purpose of stirring a drink.

Typically, the invention takes the form of a bar accessory or the like including a cup providing a sump into which liquid received in the cup will drain and siphon means having a shorter leg communicating with the sump and extending from the point of communication generally upwardly to a level near but somewhat below the rim of said cup and the longer leg of said siphon means depending to a discharge point substantially below said point of communication. In one embodiment, the siphon tube, from its point of communication with the sump, may extend outside of the cup and upwardlyoutwardly and downwardly in a graceful curve to a point at or near the point of communication to form a handle for the device. In another embodiment, the siphon means may be contained largely within the cup. In still another form, the siphon tube may project through the side of the cup, the shorter leg being within the cup and the longer leg being outside the cup. In a preferred form of the invention, a spoon bowl or the like is fitted to the lower end of the siphon tube near the discharge orifice to provide a stirring device conveniently manipulated from the aforesaid handle.

Other aims, objects and advantages of the invention will be in part apparent and in part pointed out in the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is an elevation of one embodiment of the invention;

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view of another embodiment;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the device of Fig. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical sectional view of yet another form of the bar accessory.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the device shown has a conical cup portion I0, open at the top and provided with a beaded rim H to facilitate picking up and holding the device by the cup body. The bottom of the device has a sump I2, into which liquid received in the cup will drain. The cup may be made of glass, metal, synthetic resin, or other suitable structural material.

A siphon tube of similar or different but preferably rigid structural material, is attached to the bottom of the cup at I3 as by welding or the tube may be formed integrally with the cup body. The tube communicates with the interior of the cup and extends downwardly for a short distance to the bend l4, thence upwardly in the section [5 generally along the side of the cup. Before reaching the level of the rim of the cup, the tube is curved outwardly at I 6 and downwardly in the section I! to the bend [8 below and near the point of attachment l3. From the bend it, the tube extends downwardly in line with the axis of the cup in a depending extension [9. The bottom of the tube is open at 20 to provide a discharge orifice.

The bar accessory has a spoon bowl 2! attached at the lower end of the siphon tube. This spoon bowl may be stamped from sheet stock and has an integral pair of ears 22--22 that are wrapped about the tube and brazed, welded, soldered or otherwise secured to the tube to affix the spoon bowl in place.

For obtaining added rigidity of construction, the siphon tube may be tack-welded to the side of the cup at 23 and to the bend I4 at the point 24.

In operation, the bar accessory is grasped by the handle in the fingers of one hand and held over a glass container into which it is desired to measure a predetermined quantity of liquid, the spoon end of the accessory extending into the glass. Liquid is poured into the cup. As the liquid rises in the cup, it also rises in the leg l5 of the siphon. When the level of the liquid in the cup is near or slightly above the level of the bend l6 of the siphon, liquid is forced around the bend I6 and down the leg ll to a point at or near the bend l8. When the liquid reaches this latter point, the siphon is primed and starts automatically to drain the contents of the cup. A soon as fiow through the siphon begins, pouring of the liquid into the cup is stopped and the siphon is allowed to empty the cup. Thus, a

cup by the three feet 28 that are welded to the interior walls of the cup. The feet 28 are spaced about the lower periphery of the tubular member 21 and provide openings 29 between the bottom of the tubular member and the walls of the cup for communication between the interior of the cup and the interior of the tubular member. A closure 30 is located at the top of the tubular member, the latter rising to a level somewhat below the rim of the cup.

The longer leg of the siphon means is provided by a tube 3| having an outside diametersmaller than the inside diameter of the tubular member 21. The tube passes through the walls of the cup at the apex thereof and a liquid tight joint is provided at the point of penetration 32. This "tube 3| projects upwardly into the tubular member, extending nearly to the top of the latter, and depends to a discharge port 33 substantially below the bottom of the cup. A stirring device 34 in the form of a spoon bowl may be vaiiixeol to the bottom of the tube 3| in a manner similar to the device of Fig. 1.

In order to assure uniform flow of liquid through the siphon, it is desirable that the cross sectional area of the annular space 35 between the outside of the tube 3| and the inner walls of the tubular member 21 be approximately equal to the cross sectional area of the interior of the tube 3|.

Operation of the bar accessory of Figs. 2 and 3 will be readily perceived in view of the previous description of the operation of the device of Fig. l. The device is held over a glass into which a predetermined volume of liquid is to be dispensed. Liquid is then poured into the cup 25 in which it rises. Liquid concurrently rises in the annular space 35, forming the shorter leg of the siphon, and, when it reaches the top of the tube 3|, flows into and down the tube. When the liquid ha descended in the tube to a point establishing a favorable difierential static head, the siphon functions to drain the cup automatically and dispense the liquid into the glass below. The contents of the glass may be conveniently stirred by the operator in an obvious manner.

It will be noted that the agitator, such as the spoon bowl at the bottom of the siphon tube, provides a rigid spacer between the outlet orifice of the tube and the bottom of a glass into which the tube is inserted in using the accessory. Since the outlet of the tube cannot come in contact with the bottom of the glass siphoning difficulties due to air or liquid lock in the tube do not occur.

The device illustrated in Fig. 4 provides a bar accessory of the class described having siphon means including a tube 36 piercing the side wall of the cup 31, the shorter leg 38 of the siphon being within the cup and the longer leg being outside the cup.

The cup 31 has a wide-angle truncated conical bottom portion 39 and upstanding side walls40.

A shown, the siphon tube extends through a hole in the side wall of the cup at a point somewhat below the rim of the cup, the shorter leg extending inwardly and downwardly to the bottom of the sump. A plurality of feet M are formed at the bottom of the shorter leg and these may be joined to the bottom of the cup to provide openings 42 communicating with the interior of the cup.

.A handle 43 is provided by the downward sweep of the longer leg, the latter being soldered to the cup body at 44 and bent at 45 to extend downwardly to the discharge orifice 46. An agitator 41 in the form of a fork is attached to the bottom of the siphon tube.

In operation, the bar accessory of Fig. 4 is handled similarly to the devices of Figs. 1 through 3, the operation of which has already been described.

It is found convenient to make the cup of 2 oz. to 2% oz. capacity and to place the top of the siphon at a level corresponding to about 1 /2 oz. to 2 oz. capacity.

From the foregoing description it will be seen that the present invention provides an improved bar accessory that measures and dispenses a drink of given size, that has no moving parts to get out of order, that may conveniently be held in the hand for dispensing and stirring, and that may be constructed from a variety of materials at relatively low cost to produce attractive and useful devices.

It will be understood that the principles of the invention may be modified in the light of the foregoing description to provide bar accessories having a variety of cup shapes other than those shown and a wide latitude of siphon tube shapes, providing, where desired, handles and stirring rods.

I claim:

1. A bar accessory for dispensing a predetermined quantity of liquid into a container comprising a cup providing a sump into which a liquid received in the cup will drain, and siphon means having a shorter leg communicating with said sump at substantially the lowest point thereof, the shorter leg of said siphon means rising to a level near but below the rim of said cup and the longer leg of said siphon means depending to a discharge point substantially below the point of communication of the shorter leg of said siphon means with said sump, said longer leg curving from and towards said cup and being sufficiently spaced from said cup to provide an opening for the insertion of fingers so that the longer leg may serve as a handle for the bar accessory.

2. A bar accessory for dispensing a predetermined quantity of liquid into a container comprising a cup providing a sump into which liquid received in the cup will drain, siphon means having a shorter leg communicating with said sump at substantially the lowest point thereof, the shorter leg of said siphon means rising to a level near but below the rim of said cup and the longer leg of said siphon means depending to a discharge point substantially below the point of communication of the shorter leg of said siphon means with said sump, and an agitator comp-rising a blade member positioned at the lower end of said longer leg and extending below said discharge point to serve the dual purpose of eliminating air lock in the siphon means and agitating the liquid in the container.

3. A bar accessory for dispensing a predetermined quantity of liquid into a container comprising a conical cup and a siphon tube of rigid structural material communicating with the bottom of said cup and extending from the point of communication with said cup downwardly, thence generally upwardly along the outside of said cup to a point adjacent but somewhat below the rim thereof thence outwardly below the level of the rim of said cup and downwardly to a point substantially beneath said point of communica-,

tion, and thence further downwardly to a discharge point located a substantial distance below said point of communication, the upwardly outwardly and downwardly curved portions of said tube being sufiiciently spaced from each other to provide an opening for the insertion of fingers so that the downwardly curved portion of the tube may serve as a handle for the bar accessory.

4. A bar accessory for dispensing a predetermined quantity of liquid into a container comprising a cup providing a sump into which liquid received in the cup will drain, a siphon tube of rigid structural material located outside of said cup and communicating with said sump at substantially the lowest point thereof, said siphon tube extending from the point of communication with said sump generally upwardly along the side of said cup to a point adjacent but somewhat below the rim thereof, thence outwardly below the level of the rim of said cup and downwardly to a point substantially beneath said point of communication, and thence further downwardly to a discharge point located a substantial distance below said point of communication, the upwardly, outwardly and downwardly curved portions of said tube being sufiflciently spaced from each other to provide an opening forthe insertion of fingers so that the downwardly curved portion of the tube may serve as a handle for the bar accessory, and an agitator comprising a blade member positioned at the lower end of said siphon tube and extending below said discharge point to serve the dual purpose of eliminating air lock in the siphon tube and agitating the liquid in the container.

5. A bar accessory for dispensing a predetermined quantity of liquid into a container comprising a cup providing a sump into which liquid received in the cup will drain, a vertically disposed tubular member supported interiorly of said cup and rising to a lever near but below the rim of said cup, the bottom of said tubular member communicating with said sump at substantially the lowest point thereof, closure means for the top of said tubular member, a tube passing through and sealed in the bottom of said cup and extending into said tubular member to a point adjacent to the top thereof and depending to a discharge point located substantially below the bottom of said cup and an agitator comprising a blade member positioned at the lower end of said tube and extending below said discharge point to serve the dual purpose of eliminating air lock in the tube and agitating liquid in the container.

6. A bar accessory for dispensing a predetermined quantity of liquid into a container comprising a cup providing a sump into which liquid received in the cup will drain, and a siphon tube projecting through and sealed in the side wall of said cup at a point adjacent but somewhat below the rim thereof and having a shorter leg extending to an intake opening located within the cup adjacent to the bottom of said sump and a longer leg depending without said cup to a discharge point located at a level substantially below the level of said intake opening, said longer leg curving from and towards said cup and being sufficiently spaced from said cup to provide an opening for the insertion of fingers so that the longer leg may serve as a handle for the bar accessory.

7. A bar accessory for dispensing a predetermined quantity of liquid into a container comprising a cup providing a sump into which liquid received in the cup will drain, a siphon tube projecting through and sealed in the side wall of said cup at a point adjacent but somewhat below the rim thereof and having a shorter leg extending to an intake opening located within the cup adjacent to the bottom of said sump and a longer leg depending without said cup to a discharge point located at a level substantially below the level of said intake opening, said longer leg curving from and towards said cup and being sufliciently spaced from said cup to provide an opening for the insertion of fingers so that the longer leg may serve as a handle for the bar accessory, and an agitator comprising a blade ,member positioned at the lower end of said longer leg and extending below said discharge point to serve the dual purpose of eliminating air lock in the siphon tube and agitating the liquid in the container.

8. A bar accessory for dispensing a predetermined quantity of liquid into a container comprising a cup substantially symmetrical about the vertical axis, said cup providing a sump into which liquid received in the cup will drain, and a siphon tube projecting through and sealed in the side wall of said cup at a point adjacent but somewhat below the rim thereof and having a shorter leg extending to an intake opening located within the cup adjacent to the bottom of said sump and a longer leg depending without said cup to a discharge point located at a level substantially below the level of said intake opening, said longer leg curving from and towards said cup to a point immediately subjacent to the center of the bottom of said cup and thereafter extending downwardly to said discharge point substantially along an extension of the vertical axis of the cup, the portion of said longer leg that curves from and towards said cup being sufficiently spaced from said cup to provide an opening for the insertion of fingers so that the longer leg may serve as a handle for the bar accessory.

JOHN 0. EVANS. JR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

